Fiery Temper!

This was fun to draw.

I sat down to do a sort of “team up cover” style image, and Chandra sort of took over the whole piece. I was looking for less of the Magic: The Gathering House Style of art, and more of a cartoony, loose style. I was definitely looking for Chandra to have a loose, fluid posture. I’m very happy with the way it came out, although drawing Chandra in her almost dancer-like “landing” pose was tough. The foreground part of her figure was easy, but the position and proportion of her background leg took some doing.

She came about because of both yesterday’s post, and a conscious shift in focus. I wanted to draw about something positive at school, and that got me thinking of the Magic: The Gathering Club. Today, classes were great, and the club meeting was fun…it washed away all of yesterday’s anger at auto mechanics and the subsequent migraine. Chandra…one of Magic’s key planeswalker characters is also key to my deck, and pretty much my mascot for play right now. As a result…thinking of that sort of…took over the page, and then warranted the fun digital background collaging.

I played about half of the really solid Magic players in a large multiplayer game with my new “Standard lega”l Chandra deck today. The deck is strong…especially in that format, and we had a GREAT time. Honestly…it’s really excellent both giving the oddball intellectuals of campus a sanctuary, and also being an active part of it. I lost today, amidst fun joking and good times, with students feeling happy, and like they had their own “space.” If you can get a handle on how meaningful that idea is to teenagers, then you see why the lunchtime pursuit is so rewarding.

Today’s art, sans background or borders.

When I sat down to draw this, thinking about that stuff…it was just nice, and happy. As a result, we got the pretty upbeat composition, with her pretty positive posture and expression, and the firebird being created instead of something just plain being cleansed by flames. The protagonist just seemed too angry and sullen to guest star in the piece…for good reason. Maybe next time.

The title of today’s post comes from a card in the Shadows of Innistrad release, that I’m rather fond of. It is a red card (obviously from my description of the mono-red deck) that is a lot like Lightning Bolt, a classic of the game. I was initially thinking of the “Fiery Temper” title for the “team up”, especially given yesterday’s post, and how I was just ANGRY at that Other Shop.

Thankfully…the positive influence of a crowd of young people made a much more upbeat piece, although I kept the name.

Also today, I drew a version of the school’s Spartan mascot, as a possible composition for this year’s Senior T-shirt. We will see how those pencils are received, and whether they have changes to make. I drew last year’s shirt, but the vendor recolored it in a way that was arbitrary and awful. I hadn’t planned to do anything this year as a result, but when students came and asked, it was both charming and flattering…and here we are.

Wednesday…when this posts, will be a busy, busy day. Even as I think about it, I wonder when I’m going to have the time needed to do the art for Thursday’s post! These are good problems to have, I think.